Saipan Tribune

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Chinatown, Gualo Rai bounce back

Chinatown and Gualo Rai recovered from their debut losses in Division B of the 2013 DLX/Anchor Strong Invitational Basketball League after downing separate opponents over the weekend at the Gualo Rai Basketball Court.

In last Friday's curtain raiser, Chinatown edged the ICS Shooters, 58-56, while Gualo Rai topped Servitek in the second match last Saturday, 67-57. The two victors, Servitek and JWS, are now tied for second place in the eight-team field with their similar 1-1 cards. The Sexy Boys and Adobo share the early lead with their identical 2-0 records, while LD Prime is at the bottom of the team standings with its 0-3 slate.

Chinatown, which fell to the Sexy Boys in the division opener last week, avoided back-to-back losses after pulling off a come-from-behind victory over the ICS Shooters.

Jerome Norita made the game-winning basket for Chinatown, as the ICS Shooters committed a defensive lapse in the closing seconds of the match. With the game even, the ICS Shooters left the left baseline open and Norita saw the clean lane and drove to the basket. After Norita's crucial bucket, the ICS Shooters was left with less than a second to make a play and with time running out, it just threw the ball in the inbound play.

Besides drilling the dagger, Norita also top-scored for Chinatown with his 22 points, while Paul Quizon and Justin Zapanta finished in twin digits, too, with their 18 and 10, respectively.

Norita and company grabbed the win despite trailing by as much as 12 markers in the opening canto, 9-21. Webby Guntar almost outgunned the entire Chinatown crew in the first period with his 7 markers to lift the ICS Shooters to the double-digit advantage.

Quizon then brought Chinatown back to business in the second period, 27-30, scoring 7 in that frame. He added 7 more in the third, while Norita also had 7 markers, as Chinatown wrestled back the lead, 51-42, entering the final canto.

It was the ICS Shooters' turn to play catch-up in the fourth period and it managed to tie the game off Guntar's two free throws before Norita saved the day for Chinatown.

In last Saturday's match, Gualo Rai held Servitek to 7 points in the second canto to seize control of the game en route to the 11-point win.

Gualo Rai was behind by a hair after the first 10 minutes of play, 13-14, when Servitek's offense was stalled, allowing the former to grab the driver's seat at halftime, 29-21. Servitek was limited to three field goals, while Prince Factor had 8 points and drew help from three teammates to put Gualo Rai in front at the break.

Gualo Rai, which dropped its opener against Adobo, never looked back from thereon, as its younger players continued to step up on offense in the second half.

Factor paced Gualo Rai with his 18 points, while Mike Yap chipped in 11.

Meanwhile, Division B games will be played this week, while Division A action will resume next week, as organizers of the DLX/Anchor Strong league will give way to the title series in the QQ Cup.

SATURDAY

Gualo Rai 67 - Factor 18, Yap 11, Ibanez 7, Galulu 6, Deleon Guerrero, 6, Espinosa 4, Cayading 4, Capuyon 3, Morales 2.

Servitek 56 - Simon 14, Bintz 13, Villasan 7, Salazar 7, Mateo 6, Webb 5, Detera 2.

Scoring by quarters: 13-14, 29-21, 56-46, 67-56.

FRIDAY

Chinatown 58 - Norita 22, Quizon 18, Zapanta 10, Solito 3, William 2, Avila 2, Pua 1.

ICS Shooters 56 - Gunat 21, David 14, Tala 7, Espinosa 6, Mallari 4, Corotan 2.

Scoring by quarters: 9-21, 27-30, 42-51, 58-56.